Glen Leon Fave, 46, pleaded guilty to three charges in the Cairns Magistrates' Court yesterday after the flight from Brisbane to Cairns on September 11, The Cairns Post reports.

Commonwealth prosecutor Adele Noble told the court that Fave had poked a passenger and continued to annoy her with abusive language throughout the flight before threatening a flight attendant.

"He boarded the plan intoxicated," Ms Noble said.

"He kept pushing her seat and saying she was a snob."

Ms Noble said Fave continued to hassle the woman and upset other passengers by swearing and yelling out to "shut those ... kids up" when children cried.

The court also heard that while the seatbelt sign was on as the plane taxied on the Cairns runway, Fave stood up and said "Come over here with a knife and I'll slit your ... throat" to an attendant who asked him to sit down.

The police escorted Fave from the flight.

Fave then denied he had made threats and disrupted the flight.

"Your ... joking," he said when police told him of the allegations against him.

"If I was going to say anything, I would have said I will blow your … head off."

In his defence, Fave said he was drunk and had a fear of flying.

"I am totally sorry for what I did. It's a bit late now, but I am," Fave said.

Magistrate Allan Comans said Fave, who was from New South Wales, behaved appalling and made the flight "quite miserable" for the other passengers.

Fave had convictions recorded against him for making threats and false statements, common assault and behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner.